"What Do You Have Against 1:48?" Topic

Frankly I've not seen such a ridiculous poll for quite a while. 1/48th is a scale, '28mm' is a vague measurement which appears to correspond to anything between 1/60th and 1/48th depending on the whims of the figure and vehicle manufacturers. If your stuff is actually 1/60th then unsurprisingly 1/48th is going to look a bit big…. a bit like mixing 1/144 and 1/100th scale.

1/56 just looks better im my ever so humble opinion. North Star make 1/48 figures and they are noticably bigger then the 'standard' 28mm figures.

I have yet to see figures marketed as "28mm" that are actually 1/48th scale, so I would say that they are not compatable with such figures. And relative to my interests, 1/48 is too big in that it brings nothing to the game that "28mm" does not, and further reduces the upper size limit of the scope of games played on any table due to the large size of the figs.

I don't so much have anything against it as I have no compelling reason to adopt it.

Love it! 1/48 are much cheaper then the TRUE 28mm products and are more common and look better in my opinion. Some kits can be a bit fragile so I usually use die casts for smaller vehicles like motorcycles and cars but I haven't really had many problems using 1/48 model kits in my wargaming and I do conventions all the time. I believe it is a non issue to most but you do have the hard liners who insist on a actual scale that is 100% accurate to whatever line of minis they use I gave up the Scale Creap a long time ago because it's something you will never win.

Brian

1/48 looks better to me. 1/48 scale weapons are still 'slimmer' and smaller than 28mm weapons. 1/48 figures are a little taller, but much slimmer than 28mm. 28mm figures are ususally taller than 28mm. 1/48 kits tend to be cheaper and are fun to put together. I find it hard to believe that anyone really thinks that 28mm translates to 1/56.
Got nothing against using 1/56, though… In fact, with no real 1/48 alternatives, we're probably going 1/56 for Pacific theater.

Therein lies the problem – equating "SCALE" with "SIZE" – the problem I have with 1/48 is that is is a scale and a very nice one. However, most military wargame figure makers don't do "scale" they do "size" which can be virtually any scale as stated above. The 1/48 scale is fine – but it is larger than MOST military wargame figures and they look decidedly out of place together. Also wargame figures tend to have larger weapons (bulkier) than 1/48 scale figures because of the manufacturers.

All those fiddly pieces to glue together. Too fragile. Too damned BIG!

I think that they are great. I use them with BlackTree and Artizan figures which are on slottabases. I have lots of Tamiya 1/48 vehicles and also Corgi 1/50 tanks. Now Tamiya has 60 different kits so the selection is also very good. I also converted some of the Tamiya infantry packs to make seated figures for in vehicles.

still waiting for Tamiya Hanomags though….

I have better storage than most and I cringe to think about having a bunch of 1/48th stuff.

The models themselves are just fine if you only need one or two.

mjc

I used to love to put together model kits. Of course that was before I discovered gaming.

Have not giving much thought to that scale yet because I am only doing VSF and Wild West in 25/28mm. But if/when I do then it is going to be a cost to benefit ratio. What looks the best and holds up for the best price. Then I will worry about this poll. I guess my old 1/48 kits will just hide in the box for a bit longer. Storage will be a big concern for me with this scale.

1/48th it is for me…

As far as 28mm goes, there is no "TRUE" 28mm scale.

If you are going to assign a scale to the miniatures, get the miniatures right first, the girth/ "thickness" of the miniatures are well OVER SIZED! Hands, arms, legs, torsos are all different scales and no company keeps it the same. you cant just go by height alone.

With that said, I own quite a bit of them, but due to the girth of the models I use 1/48 – 50th scale and just mount my models on bases for extra height.

Even the 28mm models look a bit crammed in the vehicles when placed in them, could not imagine using anything smaller…

Many modelers laugh at them because they don't look (In proportion) like human beings, I read an article where one long standing modeler called them "troglodytes"

If you compare them to real people they don't stack up, just shows you how you can get use to something.

If I find the article, I will post it here. It gave a lot of compelling information.

So nothing against 1/48th here…

I say they are your miniatures, use what you want to.

I have nothing against them, my only concern is will they hold up (being plastic). I've got too much other stuff to paint right now to worry about changing.

As I've said many times before, I've seen pics in WI of 1:48 model tanks with 28mm figures and the obvious difference in scale is ridiculous. The tanks are just way too big for the figures. In the pictures I saw, German infantry were barely higher than the road wheels of a Tiger I.

Of course, that's just one person's opinion. As Warlord so correctly says, "use what you want to".
--
Tim

I really don't think the intention of the poll was to open up the 1:48 vs 1:56 debate (yet again). I believe he was referring to 1:48 figures (such as Fox or HLBS).

No actual objections: I just game 6mm and smaller for reaosns of cost, space and scope of game.

Yep, Flintloque nailed it – I was more interested in the 1:48 figures vs "28mm" figures issue than that of tank scale vs infantry size.

I'm finding the aforementioned Tamiya 1:48 figures to be an incredibly close match to many "28mm" figures. If anything they have the appearance of being smaller, as they and their weapons are more slender. That's why I'm surprised to see that some consider 1:48 figures too large to use with 28mm.

Is the problem that Tamiya 1:48 is different from North Star 1:48 is different from Fox 1:48…? Specifically referring to infantry, here.

I am staying away from the 1:48th figures. Since they are (hard) plastic or resin mostly it makes their weapons too fragile for gameplay IMHO. If that was not the case I would probably got for them as well.

On the other hand… I like 1:48th and 1:50th scale tanks to go with my minis. Cheap, easy to get and robust. I have a few 1:56th scale tanks mixed, but that is mostly scout cars and light tanks, in other words vehicles that look small anyway.

Cheers,

Burkhard

I was more interested in the 1:48 figures vs "28mm" figures issue than that of tank scale vs infantry size.

Sorry about that, too quick to jump on my soapbox (which is well worn out here at TMP).

--
Tim

Once again I have no objections but as you put it:

"Is the problem that Tamiya 1:48 is different from North Star 1:48 is different from Fox 1:48…? Specifically referring to infantry, here."

Yes! once again no standard – always off a bit when comparing them to each other…

And as "14th Brooklyn" put it, the weapons and bits are way to fragile – played a demo game a while ago with a local game company. After a couple of secessions the miniatures looked like they were beaten up a bit – lots of broken weapons, missing gear and such.

They are just not made for it, shame because they looked great otherwise.

I have used them for crew and such though, but careful how I do that as well (no extended arms and such)

No objections for WW2 vehicles – that's pretty much what I have. Not so much figures – I've used a few for tank commanders, but for gaming figures – no. My first tank for gaming was a Corgi Tiger (actually 1:50 scale) – very solid & heavy – perfect feel – followed soon after by a Corgi Panther. I have a box of Tamiya US Infantry & they look too lanky/fragile next to the VFM figs I have – maybe the Tamiya are more realistically proportioned, but I haven't used them. I did use the water-cooled .30 cal MG though.

Same as my main gripe with 20mm vehicles. Way too fragile for wargaming.

Also pretty big compared to 28mm (156th- 1/60th scale figures)
That said i'll happily use 1/48th scale aircaft for a 28mm battle simply because there's no other scale available.

1/56th scale aircraft are far and few between ;-)